It's Tough Out There For The Middle Class Gentleman

We flew from our training base in Park City, Utah to Calgary, Alberta for the next stop on the Freestyle World Cup Tour. We had heard rumours that the course was to be gnarly, and situated down the landing of an old ski flying hill. This turned out to be true. The top of the course, down to half way was pretty modest and although challenging, compared to the bottom half it was a walk in the park. From half way down the middle section the line dipped over a knoll to a descent of 33 degrees.

(The course at the COP looking from the top)

(The course lit up by lights)

(Downtown Calgary - View from the top of the course)

The event was located at the Canada Olympic Park, just 20 minutes from downtown Calgary. The organisers put all the teams in a 4 star hotel in downtown - something we're not usually accustomed to on the tour, but very welcomed.

In training on the first day I overshot the bottom jump, landing backseat in the moguls of the bottom section, straining my Tibialis Anterior. Although, not a long lasting injury, it prohibited me from doing any more training until the day of the event.

This was frustrating for me, as my approach to training is normally real "workman like", where I like to get in there and do plenty of sections, jumps and full runs, trying to familiarise myself with the course and adapt my technique to the different conditions. I was forced to adopt more of a Begg-Smith approach, visualising the course more so than physically practicing.

(Backflip on the Top Air)

(Still running the moe)

On the first day of competition, I had a very average run. I made mistakes coming over the knoll and down the steep face and skied overly conservative. I finished a disappointing 25th.

Sam, had a good run and added a top air 720 to his run. He was a little out of control though, and finished 28th.

Dale skied great. Back to his best. On a difficult course where people were making mistakes, Dale just put down as usual a technically superior and flawless run. He definitely deserved his first win back from injury.

(D-spin on my second competition run)

On the second day of competition my leg feeling significantly better I was more confident. I skied a better run, still conservative but with no real mistakes. Disappointed to finish again outside the finals, this time in 27th. As in the title of this post "It's tough out there for the middle class gentleman", the "middle class" all skied well, and with the extensive depth this season, I was in the middle of the middle.

Sam had a better run in the second event. Landed both jumps, but had a slow time. He was happy. He finished in 32nd.

Dale skied at an entirely different level to the field in finals. Alex Bilodeau from Canada (last years overall winner) laid down a good scoring run, setting Dale a high score to beat for the win. People were doubtful he would be able to do it so soon after coming back from injury. But as usual, he calculated to perfection what he needed to do to win, and just blew the field away. He skied a 21.90 second run, 1 second faster than the next guy. It was one of his greatest runs, and left people shaking their heads.

(Dale, back in the Gold Bib)

(A group of Aussie supporters came to watch us at the COP)

We're now back in Deer Valley, Utah for the next two and final events for the Olympic Qualification. I am sitting in a good position, and all is looking good for me to remain inside the Olympic quota of 30 athletes.

I'll write again after the next events. Thanks for reading.

Ramone